Miscommunication
by Wordsplat
Summary: Tony and Steve are together, though Steve's reservations about open homosexuality means keeping it under wraps. So for their three-month anniversary, Tony decides that the perfect gift would be a place all to their own. But keeping his plans a secret might be harder than he expected; a little miscommunication goes a long way. Oneshot, TonyxSteve


Tony Stark was not an incapable man.

Though he was used to, and certainly more comfortable, with his AI's and robots and vast technological resources at his fingertips, Tony knew how to live without them. JARVIS was helpful, but he was a product of Tony's genius, not a requirement of it. And, really, let's not forget he saved his own life, created the solution to sustainable energy, and became a superhero in a dank, dark cave with little but scrap metal and his own mind. So, theoretically, apartment searching shouldn't be a difficult process.

Theoretically.

In reality, Tony had never had to look for an apartment before. As a minor he'd moved around with his family, as an adult he'd built towers that touched the sky with his name in bright letters; style and flair and space was Tony's thing, and apartments didn't exactly come with...well, any of that. Come to think of it, Tony was pretty sure he'd never even _seen_ the inside of an apartment. Penthouses, sure; those were sort of like apartments. Right? Right.

This was, admittedly, harder than he had first thought.

His phone began to ring the Star Spangled Man With a Plan, and Tony couldn't help the smile that flashed across his face.

"Oh Captain, my Captain."

"Tony? Is that you?"

"Of course it's me," Tony raised an eyebrow, though Steve of course couldn't see it, "Did you butt dial me again?"

"No, no, I called you," Steve sounded confused, "Just...curious where you are, is all. JARVIS said he didn't know."

Ah, that was the source of his boyfriend's confusion. In spite of Tony's many attempts to explain the extent and limitations of JARVIS' capabilities, Steve didn't seem to quite grasp the concept that there were some things JARVIS couldn't know. Tony was 86% sure it was because Steve associated the voice with god or something, even though his rational mind knew JARVIS was an AI.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Tony grinned into the phone, "Actually, you'd probably be proud."

"So tell me," the fondness in Steve's voice made Tony smile.

"I'm at the _library," _Tony declared, quite proud of himself.

"...is this some sort of code? Have you been kidnapped? I swear, Tony-"

"No, it's not a code," Tony huffed, propping his legs up on the desk and leaning back in his chair, despite the old librarian's dirty look, "Really, I'm at the library."

"...the _public _library?"

"Only kind there is, babe."

"Clint, Tony says get out of the vents."

"Shit," Clint's muffled voice could be heard over the line.

In spite of it being the truth-Tony really did hate Clint crawling around in his vents-it was also a signal they used. It signaled that one of their teammates, or at least one of their perceptive teammates like Natasha or Bruce, were hovering within earshot, meaning their so-far-secret relationship could be discovered. Which Tony certainly didn't think would be the worst thing in the world, but Steve was absolutely _convinced _that they couldn't be out. Steve claimed he had two reasons; partially for the sake of the public and keeping their image of Captain America untainted, and partially so their enemies didn't use each other as leverage.

Though Tony would of course respect Steve's decision to stay in the closet so to speak, they both knew his reasons were bullshit. The public was a stupid reason to do anything, since half got pissed when you did anything and the other half got pissed when you didn't, there was no way to win with them anyway. The point about leverage sounded valid in theory, but in reality it was blatantly clear that Tony and Steve were best friends and teammates; if their enemies wanted leverage, they'd probably go for them anyway.

Tony was 97% sure Steve's real worry was that their teammates/SHIELD/the public/the entirety of the world would turn on them for being gay. The 40's mindset of homosexuality was a bitch to break Steve of, though the gentleman part of it was certainly a plus on dates.

Regardless of this, it meant he couldn't even call Steve babe over the phone.

"Right."

"Hey, it's not so bad..." Steve softened, clearly hearing the put-out tone of Tony's voice, though there was a cautious undertone in his own, definitely meaning Natasha or possibly Bruce was nearby. In spite of this, Tony could hear the guilt and worry in Steve's next words loud and clear, "Is it?"

"No, god, of course not, I just...yeah, I'll um, talk to you later, I gotta go, the librarian's giving me a hard time. Love you."

"Right."

"Uh, yeah, well, see ya around," Tony hung up.

His awkward ending hung in the air. He had _known _someone was hanging around, of _course _Steve wasn't going to say it. So why had he gone ahead and said it? Had he_ wanted_ to piss Steve off? Christ. Why didn't he just wear a giant sign that said, 'Hey Steve, I think you're the best thing that ever happened to me, so I'm gonna make a big deal out of one, stupid, tiny little detail about it being a secret until you get sick of my stupid antics and break up with me'?

Tony sighed. He was thinking about this too much lately. It wasn't a big deal, not really. Hell, it wasn't even a _little _deal. He was dating _Steve Rogers, _the man he'd been in love with for the better half of a year. Why couldn't he just let himself be happy for once?

He could, Tony decided with resolve. He was _not _going to fuck this up; it was why he was at the dusty old library anyway. They had computers, computers JARVIS wouldn't monitor, and he was sure he could find some sort of apartment listing in Brooklyn without too many problems. Because after three months of secrecy, what would make a better anniversary gift than a place where they wouldn't have to be a secret? He was so proud of himself for thinking of it, too. In spite of the fact that their anniversary was tomorrow, in spite of the fact that he had a normal gift wrapped and ready to go, that morning a spark of brilliance had planted itself in his brain and refused to let go: a place all to themselves.

Tony liked the sound of that.

True, he owned Stark Towers. And various places in Malibu, Miami, and plenty of other hotspot locales. But...this would be the first place to really _belong _to Tony, and not just to him, but to him and Steve. _Theirs._ It was a nice thought, one that got Tony through the unnecessarily complicated process of apartment hunting.

It took him longer than he would have liked to admit, but eventually he did. He found one that was even pretty cheap, which would be good; he couldn't pay with his StarkCard, or Pepper and JARVIS would have access to the information, and be all over him about what the charge was about.

And really, they were both far too smart not to guess _exactly _what he might need a crappy one-bedroom apartment in the oldest part of Brooklyn for.

Next was the bus system. As impossibly annoying as navigating apartment listings had been, the bus was somehow much, _much _worse. Tony found it incredibly difficult not to just rip off his hat and wig and yell at the driver about how he was Tony fucking Stark and would you _please _just drive me there already, _thank you. _But secrecy was important to Steve and Steve was important to Tony, so he sat his ass down and got out a map instead.

It took him the better half of the day to make it up a few blocks. Tony wanted to kill something at that point, but he forced himself to take a deep breath and jog up the steps to meet with the owner. One heated discussion and an excessive amount of bribery later-though nothing by Stark standards, not that the owner would ever know-and Tony, aka Jake Rogers had the apartment key in his hand without ever showing an ID. Ignoring why the last name Rogers was the first to pop into his mind, Tony whistled as he made his way to 217B.

It was perfect.

Okay, so it was pretty old, cheap, and just the littlest bit dirty. Well, okay, really old. And really cheap (well, Tony had needed to bribe the man a bit to let him rent it without showing ID, but it had been _listed _cheap, and that was all Steve needed to know). And _really _dirty. But it was nothing Tony couldn't clean up...

Theoretically.

But the important part, the _perfect _part, was that Steve was going to love it. Well, Tony sure hoped he would anyway. Suddenly anxious about how it might appear to Steve, all bare and empty and still dirty as hell, Tony's determination returned.

So though his phone was running out of battery, he let it. Instead of going home to charge his phone, he spent the rest of the day doing things he'd never, _ever _imagined himself doing; he shopped for groceries, grabbing eggs and bread and milk and all those things he figured normal people ate so Steve could have something to eat when they were there. He walked the streets searching pawn shops and consignments stores for any furniture that looked circa 1940, or at least was comfortable. He went to Target and got what he could only guess were cleaning supplies, since he'd certainly never touched them before, and even a cheapy radio that caught his eye because though it wasn't something he'd never even listened to before in his life, it was something Steve might like, so Tony had thrown it in the cart without a second thought.

By the end of the day, Tony was utterly exhausted. The apartment was relatively clean after some initial experimentation with how to use bleach and the difference between window cleaner and pine sol. It was furnished, though maybe it didn't all quite go together like it had in Tony's head, and maybe it looked a little haphazard, but the apartment had Steve-ish stuff in it now and for that alone Tony was proud. He'd stocked the fridge and made the bed and put out one of those stupid, cheesy welcome mats Steve liked. Though maybe his tasks today hadn't been as mentally stimulating as his usual work, Tony had never felt so proud, so _satisfied _for accomplishing anything in his entire life.

It was around 6pm when he finally finished, and Tony told himself he'd earned a little nap before he made the trek back to the Tower.

* * *

Steve tried not to panic, but he couldn't ignore the way his hand shook slightly when pressed redial.

"Tony Stark."

As always, the voice raised his hopes;

"Leave a message."

Steve hit cancel. He'd left a message earlier, so Tony would already know to call him back when he turned his phone on. There was no point in another message, but that hadn't stopped him from calling at least a dozen times. He ran a worried hand through his hair; he'd last heard from Tony that morning, around 9, it was now almost 8 at night. He'd called Tony to ask when he was coming home at noon, but Tony hadn't answered. Since then, he'd been trying all day to contact his boyfriend with no success. It didn't help that they hadn't ended their previous conversation on the best of terms.

They hadn't had an argument, not exactly, but he'd known Tony had been upset. Tony never pushed him about it, but he knew it hurt Tony to keep them a secret. He didn't mean to hurt Tony, he _hated_ it, but he couldn't bring himself to come out, either. Natasha had been in the room, and as always, he'd folded; he hadn't said that he loved Tony too, that _of course _he loved Tony too, that he was ecstatically, crazily, madly in love with Tony. That he hated hiding too, and that he hated himself for being the one to hide them.

But Natasha had been in the room, and she'd given him a curious glance; suddenly it had been the 40s again and Steve could so clearly remember the disgust and shock. How incredibly offended people had been if they so much as thought _that sort of thing _was going on, even behind closed doors. As much as he wanted to be with Tony, to be open about it, to hold his hand and go on dates and kiss him in public like a normal couple, he couldn't get the images out of his mind. The disgusted sneers, the shocked stares; he couldn't even begin to imagine what he would do if the team started to look at him like that.

He knew it was irrational; he'd looked a little on the google, talked about it with Tony, even asked JARVIS in a roundabout sort of way. Homosexuality clearly wasn't considered so deeply offensive anymore. There were people against it still, but it was becoming far more accepted, even embraced, especially in places like New York. Gay marriage was even legal in certain states now-New York being one. Steve _knew _he was being irrational, and he did plan to come out...someday. So when he hadn't said I love you back and Tony had hung up, Steve had felt too guilty about his cowardly actions to call him back.

And if something had happened to Tony, Steve was never going to forgive himself for that.

Earlier, he'd even gone to the library. But according to them, Tony had never been there. The librarian had just given him a weird look when he'd asked, and said that if Iron Man had been in her library, she most certainly would have known. So that was strange. Tony didn't lie to him; Tony had never lied to him. He would dodge the truth occasionally and could certainly crack jokes all day long, but he wouldn't outright _lie _to Steve, he knew it.

Which had only made him more concerned. He'd called Tony again, and it had once again gone straight to voicemail. He remembered from Tony's tech lessons that if it didn't ring, it was off, and Steve couldn't help but feel a spike of worry; Tony's phone was _never _off. He called again, it went to voicemail again, and this time he left a message.

"Tony, please call me back. I don't know why your phone is off, but the librarian said you weren't here, and JARVIS said he doesn't have any way of finding you right now, and I'm just...I'm so sorry about earlier. I'm working on it, really, I...I don't know how long it'll take, but you should know, for you...I'll get there, Tony, I will. You're worth it, and I..." Steve paused, glancing around the library in spite of himself, then, with conviction, "I love you, Tony."

He'd hung up and left the library, a strangely loose, freeing sensation unfurling in his chest.

In the ten hours since then, that loose feeling had quickly grown tight again. Steve had made himself contain his worry until 8pm; Tony was an adult. He was silly and irresponsible and even occasionally rather oblivious, but he was still an adult, and he was probably totally fine. The Avengers came and went as they pleased, sometimes letting the others know, sometimes not. What was strange was that Tony hadn't told Steve where he was going, but there was no way for him to explain that to the others without revealing their relationship.

But it was definitely strange for one of them to be gone all day, so by 8, he roped the other Avengers in. He played it smooth as he could, calmly asking if any of them had heard from Tony, casually calling him, and "discovering" Tony's phone was off. Bruce asked JARVIS to "triangulate" Tony's phone, whatever that meant, but JARVIS relayed that Tony's phone was specifically adjusted by Tony to be untraceable.

The Avengers split up into groups of two and went out to search the area; he wasn't at StarkIndustries, nor had Pepper or Rhodey seen or heard from him all day. He wasn't at any of the local coffee shops or tech stores, nor the library as he'd claimed. Pepper suggested Tony might be up to something at Hammer Tower, but it turned out he wasn't there either. They did have something though; footage of someone outside the Tower around 5:34pm, someone they insisted _had _to be Tony.

Because of certain past events they had been unable to prove in court, Hammer Industries had installed an extensive video security system. The guards watching the screen had informed the executives of Tony's presence, but he'd never gone inside the building, so nothing had been done. Steve squinted at the person on the video...maybe.

True, the man was Tony's height and body type, but he had a large mop of black hair and a full black beard to go with, his hair covered by a blue "I heart NY" cap. He was dressed in ripped jeans and a touristy t-shirt, and he was hauling a large bag of cleaning supplies. Then, it suddenly became quite clear why they were so convinced it was Tony; the man on the video turned, flashed the camera the bird and a very distinctly Tony grin, then hopped on the bus and was gone.

The cleaning supplies and bus riding was strange, but it was definitely a very Tony sort of strange, so it was oddly reassuring.

"That's Tony," Steve sighed, though a reassured smile couldn't help but cross his lips.

"Well, he's fine. Maybe a touch stranger than usual, but he's fine. I'm sure he's just up to one of his weirdo projects," Natasha rolled her eyes, and she and Steve exited the building. Natasha got on her phone immediately, calling it in to the others, calling off the search.

Something still rubbed Steve the wrong way about the whole thing, but he stayed silent. This was his fault to begin with; he'd have to fix it own.

Briefly, he let himself wonder what it might be like if the others knew about their relationship. If they knew Tony was upset, that he'd basically hung up on Steve, and that they were having their first real issue as a couple. Certainly, if they knew that after all that Tony had turned his phone off and disappeared all day, apparently to buy cleaning supplies and ride the bus, they would be more concerned.

So while in the car, riding back to the Tower with Natasha and Happy, Steve called Tony again. He didn't mean to leave another message. Didn't mean to do something that scared the utter bejeezus out of him. But something came over him, and suddenly he was speaking.

"Tony, I don't know if somethings wrong, if you just need time alone, or if something has happened to you, but it's driving me insane with worry and you need to call me back. If you want to tell the others, the public, the world, I don't care; I'm half-yelling it at Natasha right now and I'll yell it from the top of Stark Tower if you want me to, I don't care about privacy or their judgement or anything like that...all I care about is you. So just...come home. I love yo-

Before he could finish, the car suddenly jerked as Happy accidentally hit the brakes. Steve slid forward, and the phone slipped from his grasp. Happy swore, swerving to the right, and the car behind them honked aggressively. Natasha looked at Steve with wide, owlish eyes.

"Oh my _god-"_

Steve managed to grab his phone, and end the accidentally extended message to Tony's phone. He'd explain later.

"Happy?" Steve questioned, "Is everything okay?"

"Sorry, I just, uh-" Before he could finish, Natasha was talking over him.

"Did you just say you love _Stark_?" Natasha blinked widely, obviously surprised in a way he had to admit made him a little proud; it took a _lot _to surprise Natasha.

"Our three month anniversary is tomorrow," Steve answered, more to his shoes than Natasha.

She swore in Russian.

Well, okay, he wasn't _entirely _sure she was swearing, but the aggressive nature with which she said it certainly made it sound vulgar.

"When _exactly?_" she demanded, and Steve found himself wondering with more than a little dread if perhaps he should have kept silent after all.

"You remember the mission about three months ago, where I broke my arm? Well, while Tony was flying me to the Helicarrier and you all were handling cleanup, he, um...he kissed me," Steve turned bright pink.

Natasha swore again in Russian, and Steve found a twinge of annoyance beginning to rise.

"Look, I know it's not exactly expected, but it's who I am and I really don't appreciate-"

"Oh my god, Steve," Natasha rolled her eyes, "I could care less if you're gay. I'm pissed because Clint owes me my money back, three months ago was my bet."

"Your...bet?"

"You think we're blind? You two have been dancing _that _dance since you met. We just didn't know when."

"_What?_"

"You're not exactly _subtle._"

"Everyone...knows?" Steve blinked.

"_Fury_ was betting. He said five months ago though; didn't you ever wonder why he was so pissed at you two that month?"

"He's Fury," Steve protested weakly, "He's _always _like that!"

"Sure," Natasha snorted, a gleam of humor in her eyes, "Belated congratulations, by the way."

"Thank you," Steve shuffled his feet; this was not at all the reaction he had expected. He looked up, then, and met her eyes. He repeated himself, this time thanking her for far more than just the congratulations, "Really. Thank you."

"Think nothing of it, Captain," Natasha waved him off, "Tonight makes a bit more sense now."

"I'm sorry?"

"You're been panicking all night, and it's not even 10," Natasha reasoned, "I just assumed it was still a part of the whole unresolved sexual tension thing. But you're really worried about him, aren't you?"

"..." Steve glanced at his phone; no new calls, texts, or voicemails, "Yeah."

"Stark does a lot of crazy, stupid things, but he wouldn't disappear on your anniversary. This is beyond strange, this is suspicious," Natasha considered, then, "I'm calling the others back. We'll track down the driver of the bus Stark got on, find out where he got off. We'll find him, Steve. I promise."

"Natasha-"

Then, a song Steve never thought he would even like was suddenly the most beautiful music in the world.

Shoot To Thrill by AC/DC droned out Natasha, and a grinning picture of Tony lit up his StarkPhone screen. Steve almost dropped the tiny phone in his attempt to pick it up, and for a moment he couldn't speak, too worried about what the other was going to say.

"Steve? _Steve?" _Tony's voice was insistent and strained.

"Tony?" Steve asked, breathless; hearing Tony's voice after an entire day of worrying was like a punch in the stomach.

"Steve, oh my god, are you okay? I heard your voicemails, I love you too, I was never mad or even upset, christ, you're amazing and wonderful and I love you so much it makes my heart _hurt _sometimes, and before I met you I wasn't even sure I _had _one! Jesus, what _happened, _I heard tires and horns and Natasha sounded hurt and then the voicemail cut off and where are you I'll be there as soon as I possibly can, I swear, Steve, I'll explain everything when I get there-"

"Tony," Steve cut him off with a shaky, relieved laugh, "Oh, Tony."

"_Where are you?_"

"Tony, I'm on my way back to the tower, I'm okay, Natasha's okay, everyone's okay. Happy just swerved a little is all."

"...oh my god," Tony breathed, "Oh my god."

"So, we should _really_ talk about the problems we've been having with communication lately..."

"Steve, I'm so sorry," Tony apologized, clearly guilty, "My phone died, and I was so busy I just didn't think about it, then I fell asleep for longer than I meant to, but I'm back at the tower now, just tell Happy not to bother parking...it's almost midnight now anyway, there's someplace I want to take you."

"It's okay, Tony. You're okay, that's what matters. Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," Tony deflected, paused a moment, then, "Did you really yell that you loved me at Natasha?"

"In a roundabout sort of way," Steve blushed in spite of himself.

"You, Steve Rogers, are officially my hero."

"I love you too, Tony."

"Yeah," Steve could hear the bright smile in Tony's voice, "I love you too."

They hung up, and Steve faced Natasha.

"You two are going to be nauseating," she sighed, "I can already tell."

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" Steve murmured into Tony's hair.

They were cuddled together in the backseat, Tony curled up into Steve's chest and Steve protectively keeping an arm around Tony, both men still a little emotionally wound up by the days events. They were driving someplace Tony had whispered to Happy, and Steve couldn't resist asking.

"Shh, you," Tony swatted his chest playfully, "It's an anniversary surprise. And really, it was rather stupid of me, because I have _no _idea how I'm ever going to top it."

"You don't have to top anything," Steve smiled, "Having you here is enough."

"Always the romantic," Tony faked an exasperated sigh, but it didn't stop him from snuggling closer to Steve.

"Always," Steve kissed Tony's ruffled hair. He had _no _idea where Tony was taking him-what could he have been doing all day riding buses and cleaning?-but as long as Tony was with him, it would be just perfect.

"Here, Happy," Tony gestured, and they exited the car. Steve noted with distinct surprise that they were in a very old part of Brooklyn. Had Tony tracked down someone from his past? He gulped, suddenly unsure of Tony's wonderful surprise. No. Tony knew better than to do that; he _knew _how Steve felt about tracking down people from his past. It was painful and he wasn't ready, and why would Tony do something like-

"Steve, hey," Tony took his hand, leading him up the stairs, "Relax."

It wasn't until Tony was sliding a key into an apartment door that Steve got it.

"Tony...you didn't."

"Oh, but I did," Tony swung open the door with a grand gesture, so proud of himself, so eager to impress Steve. The hopeful, ever-so-slightly nervous grin that broke out across his face as he looked to Steve for confirmation was beautiful and though Steve hadn't thought it possible, he somehow managed to love Tony even more than the moment before.

"Tony..." Steve marveled at the place; despite the rundown look on the outside, the inside was actually pretty nice. The furniture was a bit mis-matched, but it still looked like a nice place, and it was incredibly clean. There was one thing though, and Steve commented off-handedly, "There's a lot of blue."

"You said that was your favorite color," Tony accused, accusation and anxiety managing to mix equally in his voice, "Don't tell me it's not, cause shopping was a pain in the ass, I _really _don't want to go again-"

"Are you telling me, that you got everything you possibly could in blue, just because it's my _favorite color_?"

"...yes?"

It was strange and possibly inappropriate to the situation, but Steve couldn't help but laugh.

Tony had gone out and found them an apartment, not because he wanted just any random place to run off and have sex, but because he wanted to get Steve a place they could just relax and be themselves without worrying about being seen. Tony had bought furniture not based on whether or not he liked it, or at random just to fill space, but because he had looked for 40s-era items that he thought would make Steve more comfortable. He had even bought everything in excessive amounts and numerous shades of blue without any thought to decor or matching or style, because his first thought had been entirely about what color was Steve's favorite.

There was something so wonderfully, perfectly Tony about that.

Steve had heard so often about the famous Stark ego, and he'd seen it himself plenty of times, so on the rapidly increasing occasions when Tony let his guard down without really thinking about it, it still managed to amaze Steve how incredibly selfless the other man could really be.

"Okay, I know the blue looks a little more, uh, overwhelming than it did my head, and the furniture is sort of slap-dash, and there's not really a lot of stuff yet, but it was the best I could do with cash only and short notice, plus I was on the bus all day, so _that _was a pain, and-"

"Tony, you found this all by yourself?"

"Yes I did," Tony lifted his chin proudly.

"Then I love it."

"Yeah, well," Tony shuffled his feet, embarrassed, "Before you came out about us, I thought we could have, y'know, a place of our own. To just...be us. I guess it's not really that great a gift anymore since we can do that back at the Tower, but-"

"Tony, I said I love it, and I meant it. This is _amazing. _You went out today and without help from anyone, found, rented, and furnished an apartment. For _us. _Tony..." Steve paused in his curious examination of the room to look back at Tony with a bright smile, "This is absolutely perfect."

"Oh, good," Tony looked so relieved, Steve could have almost laughed.

"Tony, anything you gave me today would have been perfect, because it came from you. The fact that you went out and did all this...well. It was crazy and unnecessary and you _really _should have called, but...it's just so you," Steve pulled the other man into his arms, "And I don't know if you've realized yet, but I'm _pretty_ sure I'm in love with you."

"The part where you yelled it at the delightfully deadly Black Widow was sort of a clue," Tony gave a small quirk of a smile.

So Steve kissed him then, because something about Tony's smile made it utterly impossible for him not to.


End file.
